Startup Studio Newsletter | ED65

Welcome to the Studio Stack newsletter ⚡️

After four years building communities inside and for venture studios and venture firms, I can say this confidently:

The studios with real community are the ones accelerating. The studios without it are hitting ceilings they don’t yet realize are structural.

And yet… almost no one talks about it.

I can count on one hand the studios that are loud and clear that community sits at the core of their model: Nobody Studios, Antler, Founders Factory, AGYL AI…

Most others treat it like a side project — a Slack channel, a newsletter, a “maybe someday” function.

But 2025 made the truth obvious:

• Founder networks cut validation time in half.

• Talent communities eliminate costly hiring bottlenecks.

• Validator groups and operator guilds turn your ecosystem into a compounding engine.

Community isn’t marketing. It’s infrastructure.

In a year where more than 1,000 studios competed for attention, talent, and capital, the differentiator wasn’t playbooks or pitch decks — it was the depth of the network wrapped around the Studio.

If you want your Studio to stand out in 2026, community can’t be bolted on.
It has to be built in. Intentionally. Consistently. And early.

Want to launch or scale a powerful community next year? Get in touch

And if you want to dig deeper into what I’ve learned building communities for Studios, accelerators, innovative organizations, and venture firms - read my article:
How to Make Community Your Studio’s Competitive Advantage in 2026.

📝 The Venture Building Mistake Most Corporations Make - Alloy Partners (written by Drew Beechler)

📝 Navigating Capital As A Woman: Melissa Wallace Of Fierce Foundry On Top Strategies for Women Founders, CEOs and Leaders Seeking Institutional Investments - Authority Magazine

🔖 Corporate Innovation vs. Corporate Venture Studio - Matthew Burris

▶️ How Venture Studios Work - Dave Morin, Offline Ventures

• Forum Ventures raises $21.5M to bet on AI startups

• The Flywheel venture studio launches to fund AI startups (+ applications for their paid Founder-in-Residence program are now open for Q1 2026)

• The Radical Fund launches AI-native venture studio to accelerate climate, tech innovation across Southeast Asia (SEA) and the Middle East

• Seattle startup, Casera, emerges from PSL (Pioneer Square Labs) to help hospital managers clear bottlenecks with help from AI

• Paperbacked, a specialist venture studio for education founders, has launched to tackle a persistent gap in the Australian education sector

• Insurtech Neutrinos unveils venture studio and global “Reimagining Risk” challenge

• HIC Venture Studio Launches as the World’s First Horticulture-Focused Venture Studio

💼 Co-Founder of AI Health-Tech Startup - Revolution Venture Studios

💼 Venture Studio Analyst - New Jersey Innovation Institute

🔓 Applications are open for Elev X! Ignite Venture StudioProgram Batch 15

🗓️ Event: The Gathering of Builders - 12/10 - (​Antler Lagos and Wema Bank)

🗓️ Event: Fireside Chat - Inside the Founder Journey - 12/10 - (FutureSight)

4 NEW Studios were added to the Global Studio Database this week.

If you want your Studio added to the database, comment or email hello@studiostack.club.

That’s all for this issue, if you enjoyed it consider sharing with peers and fellow Studio friends. To connect with me, I’m always available on LinkedIn.